"I'm pregnant," Anupriya announced, her face glowing with happiness and her eyes shining with uncontainable joy. Madhuri's surprise turned into a wide smile as she enveloped her friend in a warm bear hug.

"I'm so happy for you and Jijaji, Anu! Congratulations!" she said, pulling out of the embrace. "Thank you!"

"When did you take the test? You didn't tell you thought you were pregnant. I could have taken on the washing dishes and- "

"I'm three months pregnant, Madhuri, and it is okay to do the routine tasks during pregnancy. It is a normal-risk pregnancy, so I can carry on with my usual works," she said, with a wide smile stretched on her lips.

"Three months?! Sneaky!" Madhuri remarked with a cheeky grin.

Anupriya's smile faltered slightly as she took a deep breath. "I had a miscarriage two years ago, not long after we got married. The doctor attributed it to stress. That's why I wanted to wait until the beginning of the second trimester before sharing the news."

Rejoice ebbed away into the vortex of remorse. Madhuri did not have to push her mind to think about the cause of her stress. She had no one by her side - neither her family, nor her childhood friends - neither to celebrate, nor to lament.

"I'm so sorry, Anu. I-I didn't know. That day, I should have- "

Anupriya shook her head gently. "You tend to shoulder blame for things beyond your control, don't you? My miscarriage and my estrangement were not things you had any control over. There's no need to feel guilty."

Madhuri placed her hand over her friend's shoulder. "I can still wish I was around when it happened to offer some support, Anu."

"Truth be told, neither of us was ready for the child. Maybe God thought it was better we become parents when we were at a better place, mentally and financially, and learn from the mistakes of my parents to avoid repeating them."

The morose smile on Anupriya's lips tugged at Madhuri's heart. "Mausi will spoil this child of yours, and you cannot stop me!" she said, and Anupriya chuckled, shaking her head.

"Of course! You have full permission." They exchanged grins before Anupriya's expression turned serious. "Have you heard back from the parent company of the call center? It's been nearly a week since you and Muskaan filed the complaint."

Annoyance creased Madhuri's brow. The lack of acknowledgment had left her hanging on a thread of hope. She chided herself for inadvertently boosting Muskaan's expectations of justice. "They haven't responded at all. It's possible that this kind of situation is so commonplace that they've grown apathetic to it."

Anupriya entwined her fingers with those of her friend's. "Just because something is common or accepted, it doesn't mean it is right. You did what you could, and if you want to change your job, I can only suggest you to not take a decision in haste."

Madhuri nodded with a thin-lipped smile stretched to a side. The thought had crossed her mind every time she passed by the manager's cabin or saw someone whisper, and her broken heart assumed it was about her. But she needed the money and the experience, and the right to justice felt like a luxury that was too expensive and out of her reach.

****

Apprehension clouded the room as Muskaan and Madhuri exchanged worried glances, summoned to a meeting by a woman who had entered the office earlier that day. Thirty-six employees, excluding two, gathered around her, curious and anxious.

"Good morning! I apologize for the chaos in the morning. The interviews, the surveys, and the blaring absence of two of your colleagues may have incited several questions in your minds. To begin with, I'm Reema Chopra from the Human Resources department of Green Consultancy."

Not even her stern tone or the perpetual frown on her features could stop the wave of hushed whispers that had taken over the crowd, but the woman remained unflinching. "We received reports of harassment from a colleague of yours, and how the complaint of the same was met with sheer unprofessional behavior that was unbecoming of a manager."

Madhuri's eyes widened, and she could feel her heart pounding in her mouth. The eyes of those around her remained on the speaker, but the discomforting warmth of self-consciousness blanketed her in a film of what felt like lava.

"After several interviews, it became evident that the colleague in question had sent obscene images to several employees, and the manager had brushed away many complaints of harassment of those who dared to complain under the carpet. The colleague and the manager were distant cousins, we learned."

Muskaan's grip tightened on Madhuri's hand. The manager's poisonous words had sewn self-doubt, but the revelation brought forth the truth.

"Green Consultancy terminated the services of the colleague and the manager in question with immediate effect and urges the employees to never hesitate to raise their voice for any injustice they encounter in the office. And we also wish to state that we would never enable harassment on these premises. Thank you and please carry on with your work."

Reema Chopra had exited the center of the crowd, but the crowd showed no signs of dispersing. With the need of whispering gone, the voices rose by several octaves and the conversation of a group of four women fell on Madhuri's ears.

"Finally! I never thought we'd see this day!" said the tallest woman in the group, dressed in a green salwar suit.

"Why didn't we think of directly approaching the head office?" wondered the woman dressed in teal saree. "But whoever had the idea of contacting them is brilliant!"

Brilliant.

An adjective Madhuri had not heard for herself since she had topped her school in the board exams for tenth standard. A tiny smile stretched on her lips at the memory of her science teacher, Miss Radha, hugging her for scoring 98% in the exam.

Her parents had subdued her earnest demands to pursue a degree in science, preferably in chemistry, and had enrolled her in the Arts stream to join a degree in Hindi literature after her twelfth standard. She had, eventually, fallen in love with the poise of Hindi literature, but she could never push herself to excel.

The zeal, along with her dreams, to fight and win was gone, and she had never tried to regain the vigor she once possessed. She could not get what she wanted, regardless of her efforts, so why bother, or so she had wondered.

But in that moment of victory, the realization dawned upon her that every effort counted and a step, no matter how insignificant it appeared, could aid in reaching the destination.